Shuji Ikutsuki
Shuji Ikutsuki is the overall main antagonist of the video game Persona 3 and the greater-scope villain of the spin-off game Persona 4: Arena Ultimax. Initially introduced as the team's supervisor, he is eventually revealed to be one of the main antagonists of the game, being the creator of Strega and the one who manipulated SEES into breaking the seal on Nyx, in an attempt to create a new world that he would rule over. He is voiced by Hideyuki Hori in the Japanese version and Dan Woren in the English version. Biography Ikutsuki is the Chief Director of the High School and both chairman and advisor of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, SEES. His proper demeanor and bad puns lead to him being considered lame by most of the students there. He is also the adviser for the special group formed by the game's heroes. He was trained to enter the Dark Hour, although he lacks a Persona. According to him, the Shadows and Tartarus would both disappear once the twelve shadows representing the different arcana were slain. In truth, Ikutsuki is working toward a completely opposite end, sharing Mitsuru's grandfather Kouetsu Kirijo's dream of The Fall and the coming of Nyx. He was one of the scientists involved in the experiments at Gekkoukan ten years ago, including the creation of artificial Persona-users. Ikutsuki manipulates S.E.E.S. as well as Strega to destroy the twelve Arcana Shadows, promising them that once they do so they will eliminate the Dark Hour. But killing the twelve Arcana Shadows actually melds them together, allowing for the re-emergence of the thirteenth Arcana, Death. It is Death's function to summon Nyx and destroy the world. After his lies are discovered, Ikutsuki reprograms Aigis to sacrifice the members of S.E.E.S. as offerings for Nyx, and then kills Takeharu Kirijo who had taken advantage of Aigis' inner fight and tried to shoot Ikutsuki himself. When Aigis breaks the programming and frees S.E.E.S., Ikutsuki jumps to his death from the top of Gekkoukan High School's observational roof (Lower Tartarus) after being wounded in the stomach by a bullet. His mission to revive Death was already complete by the time of his death. Even after his death and Nyx's destruction upon the world was averted, his influence upon the world proved was still great: In Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, it's revealed that Ikutsuki adopted Sho as a child and was his favored test subject, eventually putting a Plume of Dusk inside him in the hopes it would give him a persona, but that resulted in Minazuki and his own persona instead. Minazuki wouldn't obey and attempted to kill Ikutsuki for putting Sho in danger. He eventually sought to erase Minazuki, which resulted in Sho falling into a coma. Now that he was no longer useful Ikutsuki placed Sho in a hospital, where he paid the medical bills to keep him alive in this state indefinitely. This ultimately led the events in Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Ultimax, where he proved to be indirect mastermind behind the said events. Trivia *Despite seemingly being a helpful mentor to the protagonists, he ultimately turns out to be one of the worst that the Persona series has to offer, as in death, he even indirectly caused disastrous events in Persona 4: Arena and its sequel. *In spite of his deception and manipulation on SEES to fuse Shadow Arcanas back to Death Arcana, it appeared that following Ikutsuki's evil plan in merging separated Arcana Shadows and confronted Death and Nyx is the best idea to undo damage that the Kirijo Group has done: Had SEES left Shadow Arcanas be and not to do something to stop their rampage, Apathy Syndrome that Shadows inflicted to humans would eventually become a pandemic. Navigation Category:Traitor Category:Megami Tensei Villains Category:Video Game Villains Category:Bigger Bads Category:Parents Category:Legacy Category:Posthumous Category:Male Category:Suicidal Category:Mastermind Category:Cataclysm Category:Non-Action Category:Nihilists Category:Harbinger for Rebirth Category:Delusional Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:God Wannabe Category:Leader Category:The Heavy Category:Pure Evil Category:Doctors and Scientists Category:Deceased Category:Master Orator